==========================================================explorator 26.22-24 October 1, 2023
===========================================================
You can read explorator online at:

https://exploratornews.wordpress.com/

Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon, Edward Rockstein, Kurt Theis,
John McMahon, Barnea Selavan, Joseph Lauer, Mike Ruggeri, Hernan Astudillo, Richard Campbell, Barbara Saylor Rodgers, Bob Heuman, David Critchley, Richard Miller, Kris Curry, Rick Heli, Richard C. Griffiths, Frank MacKay, Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Don Buck, mata kimasitayo, and Ross W. Sargent for headses upses this week (as always hoping I have left no one out).

A partial catch up; lots to wade through ... we should be fully caught up by next week ...

===========================================================EARLY HOMINIDS
===========================================================Early humans deliberately made stone 'spheres' some 1.4 million years bp:

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/early-human-relatives-purposefully-crafted-stones-into-spheres-14-million-years-ago-study-claims
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-early-humans-deliberately-mysterious-stone.html
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/who-or-what-made-these-mysterious-stone-balls-found-at-ancient-sites
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/mysterious-million-year-old-stone-spheres/

A 476 000 wooden 'structure' apparently build by hominins in Zambia/Tanzania:

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/archaeologists-in-zambia-discover-oldest-wooden-structure-in-the-world-dating-to-476000-years-ago
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-archaeologists-world-oldest-wooden.html
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-simple-oldest-early-humans-wood.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230920111301.htm
https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2023/09/20/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-wooden-structure/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/science/ancient-human-woodworking.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/20/oldest-wooden-structure-discovered-on-border-of-zambia-and-tanzania
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66846772
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/20/stone-age-renamed-wooden-structures-zambia-archaeologists/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/oldest-human-structure-extinct-species-kalambo-river-b2415625.html
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230920-world-s-oldest-wooden-structure-discovered-in-zambia
https://apnews.com/article/early-humans-oldest-structure-zambia-wood-de6350a2c9704477a2df4e0a5ba8d311
https://www.reuters.com/science/zambia-find-shows-humans-have-built-with-wood-476000-years-2023-09-20/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/20/africa/oldest-wooden-structure-zambia-scn/index.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/09/22/1200975292/worlds-oldest-wooden-structure-defies-stone-age-stereotypes
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/26/1201684470/500-000-year-old-structure-has-researchers-rethinking-early-human-intelligence
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1200898111/this-500-000-year-old-wood-structure-has-researchers-how-advanced-early-humans-w
https://www.newsweek.com/earliest-structural-use-wood-500000-years-ago-discovered-1828532
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/simple-log-structure-oldest-early-humans-building-wood-103343219
https://www.dw.com/en/worlds-oldest-wooden-structure-found-in-zambia/a-66878895
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2023-09-20/ty-article/half-million-year-old-wooden-structure-found-in-zambia/0000018a-b1a5-d6d1-addb-f5afa0a90000
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/archaeologists-discover-half-a-million-year-old-wooden-structure-and-its-not-built-by-homo-sapiens/
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/wooden-structure-kalambo-falls-zambia-12283.html
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earliest-evidence-of-wooden-construction-uncovered/
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/68306
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/09/archaeologists-find-476000-year-old-wooden-structure/148632
https://archaeonewsnet.com/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-wooden-structure/2023/09/news/archaeology/163079/
https://arkeonews.net/worlds-oldest-wooden-structure-476000-years-old-discovered-in-zambia/
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2023/09/21/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-wooden-structure/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-uncover-notched-logs-that-may-be-the-oldest-known-wooden-structure-180982942/
https://www.archaeology.org/news/11756-230921-hominin-wood-structure

cf: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02928-4
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06557-9
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02858-1

A 300 000 years bp 'chinless jawbone' from China may be from a new branch on the human family tree:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02924-8

Study suggests the size of prey drove Paleolithic technology development:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-small-prey-compelled-prehistoric-humans.html

Evidence of early humans wearing shoes some 146 000 years bp:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/humans-fossil-footwear-oldest-evidence-b2409698.html
https://arkeonews.net/ancient-footprints-offer-evidence-humans-wore-shoes-148000-years-ago/

Neanderthal remains from Simanya Cave in Spain:

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture/neanderthal-remains-over-50-000-years-old-discovered-in-spain/2996501

On the debate over our perception of Neanderthals over the years:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/19/justice-for-neanderthals-what-the-debate-about-our-long-dead-cousins-reveals-about-us

Pollen analysis suggests a major dispersal of humans into Eurasia occurred during a Pleistocene warming period:
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-pollen-analysis-dispersal-modern-humans.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230922141247.htm
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2023/09/25/when-and-how-did-the-flow-of-homo-sapiens-in-eurasia-happen/

Feature on Altamura Man:

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/who-was-altamura-man-how-one-neanderthals-misfortune-became-a-blessing-for

A box of bones donated to a Spanish museum back in the 1980s turns out to be Neanderthal:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-donated-artifacts-treasure-trove-neanderthal.html

Another feature on early human species interbreeding:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-science-picture-ancient-kinds-humans.html
https://apnews.com/article/neanderthals-denisovans-ancient-humans-dna-e671a140b75fab3791fbd1c4b77cb6e7

Feature on homo floresiensis:

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-flores-man-hobbits-are-they-still-alive

Review/interview with Cat Bohannon about her book on the role of females in human evolution:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/30/how-women-drove-evolution-cat-bohannon-on-her-radical-new-history-of-humanity

===========================================================AFRICA
===========================================================A study of pigment production in Ethiopia some 40 000 years bp:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-pigment-production-cultural-availability-mineral.html
https://archaeonewsnet.com/pigment-production-adapted-to-cultural-changes-and-the-availability-of-mineral-resources-40000-years-ago-in-ethiopia/

A study of depictions of animal tracks and human footprints in Neolithic petroglyphs from Namibia:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-stone-age-artists-human-animal.html
https://www.popsci.com/science/namibian-cave-art-animals-stone-age/
https://www.newsweek.com/archeologists-discover-stone-age-animal-art-namibia-1826796
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stone-age-engravings-of-animal-tracks-reveal-new-details-in-namibia-180982913/
https://www.archaeology.org/news/11745-230915-namibia-rock-art

cf: https://phys.org/news/2023-09-stone-age-artists-human-animal.html
===========================================================ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
===========================================================5000 years bp 'wine jars' from Sohag:

https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/509364/Antiquities/Ancient-Egypt/YearOld-wine-jars-found-intact-at-Abydos-in-Sohag.aspx

Czech archaeologists have (re)discovered a 25th/24th century BCE tomb of Ptahshepses;

https://english.radio.cz/czech-archaeologists-rediscover-famous-tomb-egyptian-high-official-8795587
https://www.newsweek.com/lost-4400-year-old-tomb-found-ancient-egyptian-mummy-inside-1831034

Some new rooms were discovered within the pyramid of Sahura:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-rooms-sahura-pyramid.html
https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/509138.aspx
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/509072/Antiquities/Ancient-Egypt/In-Photos--chambers-discovered-inside-Sahure%E2%80%99s-Pyr.aspx
https://egyptianstreets.com/2023/09/29/egyptian-german-team-unearths-storage-chambers-in-pyramid-of-king-sahure/
https://menafn.com/1107148797/Egypt-Uncovered-Eight-Storage-Rooms-In-Pyramid-Of-Sahure
https://english.news.cn/20230927/160c520a63834f338c5c3574f5d2416c/c.html
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-new-rooms-inside-ancient-egyptian-pyramid/
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/egyptian-pharaoh-sahure-pyramid-hidden-rooms-12307.html
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2023/09/27/eight-more-chambers-discovered-in-an-egyptian-pyramid/

A Saite period (and later?) temples of Aphrodite, Amun, and more from Thonis-Heracleion: